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Whitehurst Diaries: Books now in dignified repository

Bookcases bring big bonus: Culture and enlightenment for ambitious Gradyville, KY feline
Click on headline for diary entry plus photo(s)

By Sharon Whitehurst
Gradyville, KY 2011-04-04

My books have been without a dignified repository for over a year. They moved with us in an assortment of boxes and bins which I've plundered and pawed, grumbling as I searched for a needed reference or a favorite to re-read on a rainy day.



A few rummaged books were stashed in the cupboards which Haskell Rogers made of farm-harvested cherry - fitted to flank the fireplace. Books have landed on tables, slithered off my crowded desk, leaned in precarious tipples on the floor.

Jim has figuratively covered his ears whenever I struck up my repetitive plea for "book shelves."

On Monday evening he loaded grandson Devin and me into old Snort'n Nort'n and headed grimly toward the auction barn. Several noisy and smoke-filled hours later we returned with three large pieces of furniture strapped to the back.

I thought at the time that he might have gone a bit over-board in his enthusiasm.Three days into book sorting and dusting [stopping of course to browse through beloved treasures] I realize every shelf will be filled.

I trudge up and down the stairs clutching stacks of books, attempting to neatly organize by categories of reference, historical fiction, essays, mysteries.Willis the Cat, taking advantage of his house privileges, decided this morning to improve his mind with a browse through the selections in the fireplace cupboard.

As you can see, continuing education became too much on a sultry day for even a dedicated feline. See accompanying photo(s) - Sharon Whitehurst

This story was posted on 2011-08-05 04:59:10
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Whitehurst Diaries: Bookcase opens new vistas for Willis



2011-08-05 - Old Gradyville RD, Gradyville, KY - Photo By Sharon Whitehurst.
Willis the Cat: soon to be Dr. Cat, PhD, quickly adapted to his new bookcase campus after Jim Whitehurst, succumbing to his wife's incessant mention of 'bookshelves', returned from the auction barn with a cherry bookcase fit for a President, even a royal cat..

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The Whitehurst Diaries: Bookshelves and the erudite cat



2011-08-05 - Old Gradyville RD, Gradyville, KY - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst.
Soon to be Dr. Willis the Cat looks up from scanning titles, passing over the one by Madeleine l'Engle about a girl with a hateful piano teacher at the Swiss Boarding School. Though soon to be Dr. Cat was once, himself, something of an orphan until he adopted Jim Whitehurst, his taste in books is more toward works of science, such as "Hummingbirds to Swat and Enjoy for Snacks."

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The Whitehurst Diaries: The Dreams of an ambitious cat



2011-08-05 - Old Gradyville RD, Gradyville, KY - Photo by Sharon Whitehurst.
Even cats can dream: Willis the Cat was exhausted from his academic endeavors the first day of home school, and fell asleep with the books, dreaming perhaps, of the great things to come with his new title, perhaps, of the way people will tip their hat when he enters The Store, perhaps of the way everyone will step aside for him at the post office, perhaps when he too, can read and takes over the mail route, or becomes the first coach from Gradyville to actually win an NCAA basketball title. Perhaps a pastor at the little church now closed. And perhaps, he will continue to lead a quiet, happy life in peaceful Big Creek Valley, looking after Jim.

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